Protect
by attiebear118861
Summary: Rating: M Summery: Life really isn't as it seems for Harry, He finds out who he can and cannot trust in his life, the people he thought were his best friends turn out to be the people he should fear, his tormentor's are the only people who truly want to see the young, powerful wizard safe. WARNING SLASH M/M
1. Chapter 1

' _I can still feel the pain of the slap that I took to the face from my uncle. I can't believe he actually went as far as hitting me. Yes, he shoves me down and grabs me too hard but he never once hit me - Until now - I can still see the rage that was filling his eyes when he walked in, I could still smell the alcohol on his clothing and breath as he stepped towards me, grabbing a fist full of my shirt so he could drag me along with him while he screamed profanities in my ear. After the first smack it only got worse. Hissed insults turned into more screaming, opened handed slapped turned into closed firsts that would slam against my jaw and cheek bones, leaving bruises and cuts from the wedding band on his beefy, sausage finger. The little meals I would get three times a day turned into the crust that was cut off of Dudleys toast in the mornings and half a glass of water to last me all day. And the only thoughts that haunted me day and night in my small little cupboard under the stairs was "I didn't even do anything wrong." '_

 _Later I found out that apparently the day my Uncle Vernon came home in a blind rage he had lost his job and instantly turned to drinking to deal with his problems, but hopefully that will all be over soon, tomorrow morning I will be on my way back to Hogwarts to be with my friends… my family … I will be home.'_

Harry was brought out of his writing by the sound of thunderous footsteps coming up the stairs, he quickly scrambled and folded the paper, tossing it into his trunk with the others he had written over the days. Harry had just locked his trunk when his door slammed open "I thought I told you to have dinner ready when I got home boy!" His uncle's voice bellowed out, his words running together, making it obvious that he had spent the afternoon nursing a bottle of scotch. Harry didn't even have time to respond when a fist collided with his left cheek, knocking him off balance and falling to the floor. One would assume that it would end there. One hit and Harry would head down to prepare dinner but that wasn't the case. Many hits, kicks, and insults came at Harry faster than one would assume given the size of Vernon Dursley. It didn't take long for for Harry's frail, thin, abused body to give out, causing his head to fall back with a thunk against the floor. Harry was unconscious and Vernon finally left the room.

Harry awoke hours later to the sound of his owl tapping on his window. His room was dark showing that night had fallen, though he had no idea how long he had been out. Tap Tap Tap "I'm coming" he groaned and slowly sat up. "Bloody hell" He whispered as pain shot through his body, stopping his movements for just a moment. With one final curse slipping from his lips he finally pulled himself up off the floor and headed to open the window. Hedwig flew in and he noticed that she had nothing tied to her leg "Hello girl, nice hunt?" He asked softly, gently running his fingers over the soft feathers of her chest. With a heavy sigh Harry looked out the window, his eyes focusing on the hills that he could see in the distance. After awhile he saw the sun starting to peak over the horizon "I need to get some healing potions somehow." Harry mumbled to himself before he began to get ready, knowing it would take him much longer than usual to even move about the room.

The train ride to school was filled with non stop talking from Hermione about all the places her parents took her too over the summer holiday, no one noticed the slight limp Harry had nor the fact it hurt him to breath, that may be do to the Glamor charm he somehow was able to cast on himself earlier that morning but he wasn't sure, he only hoped that his friends stayed oblivious. They arrived at Hogwarts and Harry made some excuse about needing to go get something from his trunk that had been taken up to the dorms. While all his fellow Gryffindors went to the Great Hall, Harry made his way down the the dungeons, knowing exactly where he could snag some potions. Before heading down the steps Harry pulled out the invisibility cloak from his robe pocket -always shocked that it could fold that small in the first place- and headed to the Snape's storeroom, thankful that he was at the feast, making this much easier. After taking a few moments to simply breath through the slight pain he was feeling Harry made his way over to the potions cabinet and slowly let a pale, thin hand escape the invisibility cloak so he could take the potions and salves he needed. But Suddenly, he wasn't alone. "Show yourself!" He heard the angry voice of Snape hiss. Harry let his eyes trail to the door before he sighed, there was really no way to get out of this- especially in the condition he was currently in. With a resigned sigh, Harry slowly let his cloak drop and turned around "S-Snape I… I can… Explain" he bit his lip as Snape walked over and took the potion out of his hand angrily "Stealing now Potter?" He seethed, Harry just shook his head and pulled his wand out "I need them" he whispered before he dropped his Glamors, knowing the only way he could make Snape understand was to show him the damage that had been done. He heard Snape gasp loudly as he took in the beaten body of 'The Boy Who Lived' Noting the many bruises and cuts that littered the boys face- his gut telling him that it was much worse beneath the robes.

Severus cleared his throat trying to get the lump down. Sure he hated James Potter but seeing Lily's son broken and beaten truly made his heart sink down into his stomach "What happened to you" He said softly, as if the boy was a spooked animal. He moved forward and slowly guided Potter down onto a chair he had summoned to them. Before either had a chance to say anymore he turned and used his wand to shut the door and put up silencing and locking charms "Potter… Who did this?" He asked as he grabbed the bruise salve he had taken from the boys hands just a few minutes prior "Don't move" He hissed when the boy flinched away "I need to heal you or those cuts will just become infected." He huffed - what - he may have felt bad but the boy could still be insufferable at times. Harry let out a soft sigh and nodded. He slowly took off his glasses so the Professor could rub the vibrant green goop on his wounds. After a few moments of silence Snape spoke "Is there more?" He asked in the most professional voice he could manage. Harry looked hesitant before finally he nodded "Yes" came the broken whisper. With a nod Severus let out another sigh "Alright, Potter I want you to look at that table and take off your clothing… leave your boxers on and even your trousers if there are no wounds on your legs. I need to heal you" Snape told him as he moved over to his cabinet and grabbed a few more things he would need before turning around and gasping once again "Harry.." He trailed off, the shock causing him to use the males given name. He moved towards the boy, watching as defeat settled onto his face -a look Severus did not like one bit- "W-Who did this" He asked once again, before he moved forward to slowly start applying different creams to the bruises, cuts and welts, causing them to heal almost instantly, the really bad ones would take a few days.

Harry whimpered softly and looked up at Snape, giving the man a perfect view of the tears that had began to slide down his cheeks "I-I can't… can't tell you" He mumbled before finally breaking down, sobs shaking his body violently. Severus instantly moved forward and wrapped his arms around the frightened hurt man "Did your aunt and uncle do this to you?" He made Harry look into his eyes, knowing he would force his way into the boys mind if he needed to. After a few moments of silence Harry nodded meekly, feeling more tears fall from his eyes. Snape growled loudly and pulled Harry closer into his arms so he could show him the love he had been denied all his life. He couldn't even fathom what he had heard, the boy he thought was such a spoilt little brat… the boy he hated so much … the one that from this moment on he would do anything to protect.. he would never let him go back to those muggles… Ever. Even if he needed to run.


	2. Chapter 2

Over the weeks Harry had spent a lot of time down in the Potion Master's private rooms talking about his childhood, finally coming to terms with the fact that the way his relatives had treated him was wrong. I suppose that Harry knew that other kids weren't treated the way that he was; however, a small part of him had always figured he deserved it. Obviously his uncle had brainwashed him, making him think that he truly was a freak. One of the topics that Harry and Severus had discussed was the war. Harry had had so many questions that had never been answered, he had always been left in the dark by Dumbledore and it showed in his ignorance of magic. Luckily Severus was able to answer most of these questions, he was able to explain about different situations in The Wizarding World. He explained laws, bonding, careers, and all the other little details - to say Harry was shocked to learn that Wizards could also have children was an understatement. Harry also learned that Severus was on the darker side of the war, the man explained The Dark Lords views and at the end of that conversation Harry was reluctant to agree that while the man was still completely mad, he did have some good points and was fighting this war with Magical Britain in his heart while Dumbledore was just trying to better himself. Harry learned that Voldemort wanted to start a program to insure that muggle born and raised children were not abused or neglected, he wanted to have contracts signed by the muggles and yearly checkups for the children to insure they were safe. Besides wanting to insure that the magical children were taken care of, Voldemort wanted to keep old Wizarding traditions in tact, he didn't like how muggleborns were bringing their muggle technology and ways and completely disregarding the magical world and the old ways.

Currently Harry was alone in Severus' rooms going over this weeks Charms homework. He had finished his last class about an hour ago and decided to make himself at home in the dungeon instead of facing the questions his friends had been hammering him with ever since he returned. He couldn't figure out why they were so interested in what he had done that summer, it's not like they had really cared about it any other year. The questions weren't normal though, they were all based around who he had seen, who he had spent his time with, and if he had left the house. Harry would be lying if he said that their strange behavior didn't concern him, he had always thought that their friendship was real and honest but he always felt like he was the odd man out, like he was the laughing joke for not reading between the lines. He hoped that maybe he was just imagining things but he knew in his gut that that wasn't the case and Sirius had always said that he should trust his gut. When Ron, Hermione and Ginny weren't harassing him with questions about the summer, they were trying their hardest to push Harry and Ginny together, claiming that they would be the "Most Perfect Couple" The mere thought made Harry sick to his stomach. Ginny was definitely not his type- even if he was attracted to women she wouldn't be. She was hot-headed, loud and spoilt to the point that the word "No" went right over her head.

With a sigh Harry shook his head, he had been getting lost in his thoughts a lot more lately and he needed to really focus on his work if he wanted to try and sit his NEWTS a few months earlier than he was supposed to. Harry had just started to read a paragraph about basic household Charms when the portrait suddenly burst open, revealing an irritated looking Severus Snape and paler than normal Draco Malfoy. Severus only had a few minutes to bark out some orders "Potter! Dumbledore has figured out that I am working with The Dark Lord and has called the Aurors! You need to run and get just your important items, everything else can be replaced." Not many could see it but the Potions Master was nervous. "Now!" The man suddenly barked, his wand out and items flying around the room and into a trunk that had appeared out of nowhere. Harry shot to his feet. He knew better than to stand here and argue with the man and figured that questions could be asked later - like how in the hell did Dumbledore find out!

Luckily it was dinner time and everyone was in the Great Hall, making it pretty simple for Harry to slip into Gryffindor tower without being stopped. Since he only had a few minutes he went straight to his trunk and opened it, almost everything was in there already so he quickly shrunk his firebolt and added the few articles of clothing that were laying around before shutting the trunk and shrinking it. Harry shoved the shrunken trunk into his pocket and fled, moving as quickly and quietly as he could. He was almost there, he only had a few more turns when a small blonde was suddenly in his way, causing Harry to skid to a halt "Oh Luna!" He gasped, started by the girls sudden appearance "Don't fight the Dragon too hard, it will protect you" Was all she said, her voice floating around them in that dazy, dreamy manner. After Luna spoke the soft words she walked off, dancing down the corridor.

Harry only spared the girl one last glance before he started quickly walking again, taking the last few turns and finally arriving at the portrait that guarded Snape's quarters. He hissed the password that was specifically designed for him then walked in, seeing Severus and Draco by the already blazing green fire "Finally, we need to leave now!" Severus shouted, ushering Draco through the Floo "Come on Harry, you'll Floo with me" The Potions Master stated, warmly holding his arm out so the two could step into the fire "Prince Manor!" Severus called out and Harry watched as the room spun away. Several minutes later the portrait slammed open, revealing an enraged Headmaster and three Aurors, but it was too late, the two snakes and the lion were already gone.


End file.
